CIMDA

Thanks Jo, and thanks for your help.
I am glad Elsie is currently okay. I do worm counts, check her for fleas etc. That is quite hard as we have cats which hunt..but I treat them.
You mentioned stress. I haven't had a holiday in 3 years because I have been afraid to leave her but I am worn out ( dad died, mum developed Alzheimer's) and I don't know how I can leave Elsie. We usually have a house sitter who looks after the animals. Elsie is good to leave whilst I am out but she expects me back. I am afraid to go away for fear of her getting stressed. 🙁

My whippet, Elsie, had SRMA has as 7 month pup. She responded badly to the high dose steroids and I believe we reduced them too quickly and she relapsed whilst on a low dose. Elsie was put back on the immune suppressing dose and I held my nerve, took each day as it came, keeping her on this dose for 3 weeks. Elsie can't tolerate omeprazole as it gives her diarrhoea and makes her sick. This was difficult in the beginning as the vet thought it was the steroids making her sick.
Elsie has been off the steroids now for 8 months and has been fine. I still worry about her and watch her too intently. She eats well and is very active. I haven't vaccinated her again against the vet's advice. She isn't neutered which is a minor concern.
Good luck.

Happy New Year to you too. xx

Just a little update about Elsie.
She is very well at the moment. She is off the steroids and buzzing around like a whippet should.
I am keeping her on the RC Gastro food at the moment. The tests all came back clear - pancreatitis, worm counts etc. so the vet thinks maybe a food intolerance. Elsie always seemed to develop a bit of a sensitive stomach when I reduced the steroids. Maybe the SRMA was caused by a food intolerance? We'll never know. I will introduce single proteins slowly. I don't really like her on ultra processed food but if it keeps her well, I will go with it. Let's hope she doesn't relapse! Thanks for your advice. X

Hi Jo,
Thanks. I have seen mention of metronidazole a lot. I will ask, thank you.
She has just had a blood test to check her B12 and folate levels. Will keep you posted.

Hi Jo,
Thanks for asking.
Elsie saw a vet on Tuesday. We agreed to stop the omeprazole as this was probably making her vomit. The vet's feeling now is that she has a gastric inflammation due to her having eating something that's upset her.
She is on a bland diet of Royal Canin gastro food. I have also been feeding her chicken and rice. The vet gave Elsie an anti sickness injection.
Elsie was fine Tues/Weds.
She had some abdominal discomfort on Thursday morning so I gave her a Cerenia tablet that I had been given for her last year at the start of her SRMA. She was fine then.
This morning she was showing abdominal pain but not for too long.
I am going to see how she does over the weekend. She hasn't gone off her food. I wonder if I need to find a sensitive stomach food for her.
She never ate well as a pup. I wonder if the gastric issue is long standing, maybe caused the SRMA ?

Thanks Jo and sorry for delayed reply.
My initial thought was pancreatitis as I have an older dog who has suffered with this in the past. The vet said she tested for lipase in the blood and this was normal.
I don't think Elsie tolerates the omeprazole very well. Certainly at the start of her treatment last year we stopped using omeprazole. However as she is older we thought it might work.
At the weekend I have her 10mg on an empty stomach in the morning and fed an hour later. She still had some discomfort. I gave her 10mg before tea but she vomited her food an hour after eating.
Today I have the omeprazole with her breakfast and she had some discomfort but it was shorter lived.
I am not sure what is going on with her. She doesn't have diarrhoea which she usually does with stomach issues. She hasn't been on a significant dose of steroids for three months. Anyway, I am going back to the vets tomorrow. I will keep you posted.xx

Hi Jo and Catherine
I hope you are well and have had a good summer.
I have come back to ask about Elsie and her steroid protocol and gastro (maybe) issues.
Looking back at my diary I seem to have been very slow reducing Elsie's steroids. (I was giving Elsie 2mg one day and 1mg the next back in July).
She is currently on 1mg EOD. She hasn't had any gastro protectant for a month.
For the past few days she has shown her pain response (trembling) after eating. This morning she did the 'play bow' also, stretching. She has a good appetite, has recently been in season and has been happy to come for a walk.
I took her to the vet who gave her a good exam.
Elsie had a normal temp, slight discomfort in the tummy area, a slightly increase lymph node in her rear armpit. The vet gave me omeprazole and thinks the problem is gastric. She said to discontinue the steroids.
 The vet took bloods. Her CRP is normal, lipase normal, everything else okay but she has a low white cell count. The white cell count is lower than it was in July.
My questions -
Is it okay to just stop the steroids now?
What could cause the white cell count to be low?
Will the omeprazole work quickly to help any gastric problems? She had previously been on ranitidine.
The vet said to monitor her over the weekend.
Many thanks if you can help, and apologies for posting with questions instead of just good news.

A little update about Elsie.
She is currently on 2mg per day.
She had a bit of a freak accident 10 days ago when she ran into a sharp branch in the garden and had a nice cut that required stitches under GA. She coped well and has remained okay. Her white cell count was on the low side of normal so she was given a short antibiotic course.
On top of that my 9 year old whippet, Pip, has just been diagnosed with a grade 3 heart murmur, enlarged heart, leaky valve. :-((. She has been given pimobendan.
I do think that it is time pedigree dogs has some outcrosses to widen the genetic pools.

A quick update. Elsie is now down to a reduced dose of 4mg per day. From 5mg to nil, we are taking a few months. My current vet studied under Prof. Day at Bristol Uni.
I asked a month a so ago about CRP tests and their usefulness at predicting relapses. I found a paper by E.Beidermann, A Tippled and T.Flegel. It states ' SRMA is a common inflammatory central nervous system disease in dogs that can be treated effectively although relapses are common and should be expected in 1/3 of dogs. There is currently no identified indicator for relapse-free successful therapy. Nevertheless, elevated CRP serum levels or elevated NCC on CSF analysis at re-check appointments should warrant further therapy, whereas normal CRP levels are less helpful since they do not exclude relapses.'

Thank you. X

Elsie update.
She is now on 5mg per day. She is extremely well with plenty of energy, eating well and happy.
When we get to the stage of reducing from 5mg, is it better to give 5mg every other day or 2.5mg per day. (Last time the vet gave me 1mg tablets and we went from 5mg to 3mg per day).

Seems to be working now.

I am having a go writing from my iPad. I found that earlier in the year I could post from the desktop but not mobile devices. I am using safari in all instances.

Thanks Catherine, that